Travelling always makes you try and learn new things – reorganising your concepts, points of view, brain patterns – and since I have had one of these days today which made me put that into words, I prepared a speech which I want to send out into the universe, directing it to those who want to feel addressed by it. Or who simply want to laugh about it. I’m happy to read your comments in any case if you have to say something about the topic(s). I’m not pretending I have or say the one and only universal truth on everything concerning these things, but I’ve been in several situations and conversations which made me think a lot lately. So here we go.

Dear German backpackers,
I know this is a wonderful country. It’s beautiful and pure and stunning and simply breathtakingly awesome. But if you came here to have it for yourself or because you wanted to be off the beaten track or because you wanted to do something extraordinary or special no one else has done in your family/circle of friends/circle of beloved ones, or simpy because you want to be different from the standard German guy/girl on holidays, I want to tell you something I figured out the other day.

a.) We are a people that likes to travel.

b.) Plus we have the highest population in Europe. That means there is a lot of us. These facts put together lead to the conclusion that the chance of finding someone from Germany on your holiday is fairly high anyway.

c.) For some reason a fairly big part of Germans like outdoor holidays and often in countries which are similar to their home (safety-wise e.g. in the sense of wildlife or crime) but less people and with beautiful landscape – which makes New Zealand obviously a perfect and therefore incredibly popular destination. If you are travelling in this country or if you want to travel here, it is not particularly special or original but rather average and predictable. That’s not a bad thing, but you should start to deal with it. I appreciate when you prefer backpacking holidays to hanging-out-on-the-beach-of-a-luxury-hotel-holidays or a bus-tour because that means we have something in common and might be friends or maybe travel together one day and explore different countries, but apparently it’s nothing rare in our culture so don’t get too excited. After all, for once this might be a widely spread characteristic trait Germans might be content with. Which brings me to

d.) when we meet in a backpacker-hostel somewhere and you ask me where I’m from, don’t roll your eyes (it’s rude) and don’t expect me to apologise that I’m from Germany too. It’s nothing I had any influence on nor anything I can do about, so don’t judge me for it. It’s simply the place where I come from, my home, but it’s not my identity. Pre-judgement prevents you to meet a lot of nice people and if you think about what most people like about the general Kiwi-attitude, it’s their open way of receiving people and being friendly and helpful. So if you really are so special with your open-mindedness and I-dared-to-travel-all-the-way-to-the-end-of-the-world-trip, stop doing it. If you just feel uncomfortable speaking German, I’m perfectly fine when you continue in English.

e.) despite all the Pakehas (white Kiwis) which came mainly from Europe to settle here in NZ and the heaps of backpackers which come here from all over the world, in most of the places and especially on the South Island the landscape is still quite lonely. So if you go to the backcountry to take a deep breath and enjoy the clarity and solitude of nature, please stop expecting the standards from home where you can find a rubbish bin on every corner. When you go hiking in a National Park, take your rubbish out again and don’t expect the Department of Conservation to provide every campground with all the facilities you need for your own comfort and convinience. Take it in, take it out. And please don’t not-pay the Deparment of Conservation on the campgrounds just because you are pissed at them for the lack of waste disposal, flush-toilets or showers… the guys are doing a great job and deserve to be payed for it. You wanted a holiday in the backcountry, so now deal with it and get over yourself.

I hope you don’t feel offended by my speech, German travellers. I just wanted to give you these bits and pieces to think about and point out to you again that you are also one of these Germans Germans are pissed about to meet in this country. So please stop complaining for once and do what you came here for: appreciating the beauty of this wonderful place you have the opportunity to experience… „paradise is not a place you can look for, it’s a certain feeling you have at a moment in your life“ (freely remembered from the „beached lyrics“) and maybe you meet nice people you can share this feeling with… even if they might be from the same place like you.